1 00:00:01,960 --> 00:00:05,080 Oh, crossing family, it is so good to be with you. 2 00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:07,840 I love you. I love this church, and I am 3 00:00:07,840 --> 00:00:10,880 incredibly thankful to God for the incredible work that He is 4 00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:13,680 doing in this church and through you in this season. 5 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:16,000 It is really special to be a part of it. 6 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:18,480 I want to welcome those of you joining from all of our 7 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:20,800 different locations as well as those of you who are watching 8 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:23,960 online and those of you who are watching inside. 9 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:26,840 I also want to welcome those of you who are joining us for the 10 00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:30,320 first time or the first time in a long time. 11 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:32,439 And what I would encourage you to do, and I know this might 12 00:00:32,439 --> 00:00:34,320 sound crazy, but I would encourage you to take advantage 13 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:39,040 of the QR code on the seat in front of you and visit our new 14 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:42,320 here booth in all of our lobbies or our Next Step booth because 15 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:45,800 we want a chance to get to know you a little bit better. 16 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:48,160 I'm going to give you the title to my message. 17 00:00:48,160 --> 00:00:51,240 The title of my message is how could you turn to your neighbor, 18 00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:54,000 look at him in the face and say, how could you Now? 19 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:57,520 You probably did it sweet. What I need you to do is I need 20 00:00:57,520 --> 00:01:02,880 you to channel that judgmental woman in your life where you 21 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:07,520 look down the nose. How could you turn to your other 22 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:09,480 neighbor and give him the condescending? 23 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:14,720 How could you? Recently, Jennifer and I, some 24 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:17,680 of you are too good at this, OK? Some of you like I was. 25 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:21,760 I was built for this. Recently, Jennifer and I went on 26 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:25,360 a trip to gather with a bunch of pastors from around the country. 27 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:27,640 And that means that I had to fly. 28 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:32,520 And I am, you can tell by looking at me I was not built 29 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:35,600 for airplanes. The they don't airplanes don't 30 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:37,280 come in Clayton size. OK. 31 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:40,760 And I got to be honest with you, as much as Jennifer and I try to 32 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:44,640 be really good Christians, when we get in an area where there's 33 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:46,720 mass transportation, we get a little judgy. 34 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:50,800 And that is exactly what was happening as we were sitting in 35 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:53,720 the airport that we were going to kind of a, a challenging 36 00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:54,960 place to get to from Saint Louis. 37 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:57,280 So we had to fly. Then you have to get out and 38 00:01:57,280 --> 00:01:59,440 wait for a while or rush and then you have to fly again. 39 00:01:59,840 --> 00:02:03,320 And while you're doing that, you start looking at people and you 40 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:06,080 observe things. And the only thought that kept 41 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:09,000 going through my head was how could you give you a couple 42 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:12,880 examples? We're sitting there eating some 43 00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:19,640 food and there is a guy there with some kind of dog. 44 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:23,480 I don't know if it is a a therapy dog or a service animal 45 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:26,560 dog, but it was a full size Pitbull. 46 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:33,760 And I'm thinking to myself of all the therapy dogs or of all 47 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:35,440 of the service dogs you could pick. 48 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:39,120 You can get like if you need a cute little cuddly poodle to sit 49 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:41,880 on your lap just to I'm not doing well. 50 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:44,360 I feel so much better now. You got, you got little poodle 51 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:49,040 dogs, you got like the happy golden retriever who just can't 52 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:51,560 wait to be super helpful. You got the the standard black 53 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:54,160 lab who's just ready to be there and everybody wants to come up 54 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:58,240 and pet. Or of all the dogs, how could 55 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:02,280 you possibly pick a full size pit bull that is going to go on 56 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:05,560 the plane and sit next to somebody else's crotch in the 57 00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:08,120 plane? I'm sitting next to a pit bull 58 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:11,160 and now I need a therapy dog, right? 59 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:14,840 How could of all the dogs, how could you pick that one? 60 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:17,640 I go into the restroom. Guys, you're going to track with 61 00:03:17,640 --> 00:03:20,400 me. I go into a airport public 62 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:23,840 restroom. A guy is in the urinal with his 63 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:25,360 hand. I've never seen this before. 64 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:28,360 I'm not looking anything else. I can just see his hand is on 65 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:31,720 the top part of the urinal, full touch, all 5 fingers. 66 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:37,840 He gets ready to sneeze, lifts his hand off of the urinal, puts 67 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:41,640 it back on the urinal. At this point, I'm fully 68 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:44,200 invested. I'm letting other people go past 69 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:49,920 me so I can keep judging. This guy, he gets done. 70 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:54,000 Does he wash his hands? If you think he washed his 71 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:57,920 hands, raise your hand. I got a bridge to sell you. 72 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:02,240 This guy did not wash his hands and he just walked out. 73 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:09,400 How could you let me say this, Christians, you should always 74 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:13,320 have a wet hand When you shake somebody's hand, Midwest people, 75 00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:16,240 we, we feel so bad. We're like, I, I just washed my 76 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:17,279 hands. I was in the restroom. 77 00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:21,160 I want to give you a kiss because you know what that means 78 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:23,320 that you are a normal human being. 79 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:25,840 It's when you shake someone's hand, you just got out of the 80 00:04:25,840 --> 00:04:27,560 bathroom and it is dry as a bone. 81 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:34,000 You're dirty, right? You just I'm not OK now can and 82 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:35,880 I'm how could you possibly do this? 83 00:04:36,840 --> 00:04:41,680 Then we go to get on the plane and Jennifer and I don't make 84 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:43,600 first class money. OK? 85 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:49,960 So what we rely on is the exit row because I am 6 foot six, 280 86 00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:52,280 lbs and I don't fit anywhere else. 87 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:55,400 I don't get up in planes all right, no matter how long it is. 88 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:57,640 I'm not going to the bathroom. I get in my seat. 89 00:04:57,760 --> 00:05:00,120 I put my head. I have to have the the window 90 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:01,600 seat. So I have a place to put my head 91 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:05,040 because the backrest stops about 7 vertebrae down. 92 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:07,880 So I'm trying to put my head and it has no place to go. 93 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:12,240 And if you've never rode in the exit row, it is designed for big 94 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:15,400 poor people. That is who the exit row is 95 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:18,160 designed for. And there'll be some bougie 96 00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:20,880 little girl who's like, oh, I want to send the exit row so I 97 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:22,840 can, you know, kick, you know, air. 98 00:05:23,280 --> 00:05:27,160 And they put everybody in there. And then there's a special thing 99 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:29,640 that happens the, the person who's on the plane. 100 00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:31,280 I don't know if you're allowed to call them stewardesses or 101 00:05:31,280 --> 00:05:33,560 what they're called now, but the, the person who works there. 102 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:35,640 And if you are a stewardess and that's not what you're supposed 103 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:37,160 to say. I mean, no ill will. 104 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:40,720 I just your name tag doesn't come with who you are 105 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:44,440 organizationally on it. And they, they, they look at 106 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:47,960 everybody and they say, hey, guys, in the event that this 107 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:50,600 thing goes down, you're in charge of opening up the exit 108 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:53,800 wing doors. And, you know, if you're, 109 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:56,600 there's any reason why you can't do that, we need to know and 110 00:05:57,160 --> 00:05:59,520 there's some responsibilities. Please make sure you look at the 111 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:03,920 pamphlet and understand this is, we're on a, you know, 730-7800 112 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:05,960 A, and there's some rules applied. 113 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:07,480 They're going to know this. And then I need verbal 114 00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:09,680 confirmation. And they go down and they make 115 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:11,400 everybody do the verbal confirmation. 116 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:15,040 But what they don't do is let the rest of the plane vote on 117 00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:17,960 whether or not we want this idiot to be the one who opens 118 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:20,960 the door. I sit there and I'm like, I'm 119 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:24,440 going to knock her out and him out and then I'm opening the 120 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:26,240 door. They don't even they don't even 121 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:28,800 lift up the pamphlet. I'm the only one who lifts up 122 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:31,040 the pamphlet because I'm a good Christian. 123 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:32,960 I sit there and I go, this is a new plane. 124 00:06:33,280 --> 00:06:35,920 I've never had to open it. But if I do, did you know that 125 00:06:35,920 --> 00:06:37,800 you're supposed to do it differently if there's a fire? 126 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:40,800 Did you know you're supposed to do it differently if there is? 127 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:43,600 If you're on water, did you know that your side doesn't actually 128 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:46,720 come with the automatically deflated slide that comes out? 129 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:49,280 That's only for the people in the very front of the plane, the 130 00:06:49,280 --> 00:06:51,560 1st classers or the people in the back. 131 00:06:51,840 --> 00:06:54,880 US, we have to fight back into the middle of the aisle, lift 132 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:57,960 the the the thing out, shove it out there, attach it to the 133 00:06:57,960 --> 00:06:59,360 wings. There's wing mounts. 134 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:01,880 But nobody in the row knows any of this. 135 00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:05,000 I'm sitting there like I'm going to kill people before I save 136 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:07,720 people. And I'm thinking of all the 137 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:10,000 plight of all the flight stuff they take you through. 138 00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:13,520 How could you not let other people vote on whether or not we 139 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:17,640 want this kid with his Earpods in who's not even listening, who 140 00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:23,120 just said, yeah, sure, yes, sure is not going to cut it anyhow, 141 00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:26,800 how could you? But this was the best one of 142 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:28,560 all. And OK, now listen, I'm, I'm 143 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:30,240 going to I'm going to reference COVID. 144 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:31,600 Just please don't lose your mind. 145 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:36,480 We were in the airport and there were a a couple parents there 146 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:41,640 who were mask wearers in 2024, which you're fine. 147 00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:43,280 Some people fell in love with them. 148 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:45,760 I didn't. But if you did, it's great. 149 00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:47,040 I don't know what else was going on. 150 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:50,440 So you can tell. Hey, give them space. 151 00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:54,080 They're definitely nervous about getting sick and they may had a 152 00:07:54,080 --> 00:07:56,920 really special reason, like they might have been going to see 153 00:07:56,920 --> 00:07:57,880 somebody they love and they don't. 154 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:00,960 So like, I get it. So you got these two people who 155 00:08:00,960 --> 00:08:05,680 are being very particular. However, they had kids with them 156 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:12,600 who were crawling on the airport floor and licking the tires of 157 00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:16,440 the stroller. And I'm there, I'm going 158 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:25,360 Jennifer's like bruising my knee, like just keeps these two 159 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:28,200 people are pulling their mask down to take the little bite of 160 00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:29,760 their bagel and then putting their mask back. 161 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:33,120 I meanwhile, the kid is just licking the tire and I'm going, 162 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:34,679 how? How could you? 163 00:08:34,679 --> 00:08:39,320 Like I said, you just want to scream sometimes to people. 164 00:08:39,320 --> 00:08:42,880 How could you? And I think you're going to be 165 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:47,360 thinking the exact same thing when we find ourselves in the 166 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:49,800 text today. For those of you who are here 167 00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:52,920 for the first time or the first time in a long time, we are. 168 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:55,040 You're maybe even missed the last couple of weeks. 169 00:08:55,040 --> 00:08:59,120 We are in a sermon series called Decisions in the Desert. 170 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:03,160 Every single one of us are going to find ourselves at some point 171 00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:06,880 in time in the desert. And the decisions that you make 172 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:12,360 in the desert will define you. They will determine your 173 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:14,800 destiny. And during this series we were 174 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:17,640 looking at one of the most famous stories in all of 175 00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:21,480 scripture and one of the most referenced stories in all of 176 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:24,480 scripture. The story is the story of Moses 177 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:27,440 and the Israelites being delivered out of bondage and 178 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:32,200 slavery in Egypt, journeying through the desert and into the 179 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:34,840 promised land that God had provided for them. 180 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:39,920 Quick recap, in order to free them, God demonstrated 10 181 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:42,880 plagues, the 10th of which was the death of the first born, 182 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:45,080 which is where we get the Passover, which paints a 183 00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:47,840 beautiful picture of what Jesus did on our behalf. 184 00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:52,160 Then the Israelites, they leave Egypt, but they do so by 185 00:09:52,160 --> 00:09:54,880 plundering the Egyptians. The Egyptians give them all of 186 00:09:54,880 --> 00:09:57,480 their wealth, all of their gold, all of their possessions. 187 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:01,520 Then the Israelites find themselves in front of the Red 188 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:04,320 Sea, and the Egyptians change their mind and are chasing after 189 00:10:04,320 --> 00:10:05,880 them. This is Jerry's message last 190 00:10:05,880 --> 00:10:07,560 week, which was an incredible message. 191 00:10:07,560 --> 00:10:08,880 If you haven't watched it, you should. 192 00:10:09,640 --> 00:10:14,080 And God parts the Red Sea, delivers the Israelites, and 193 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:17,640 then eliminates the Egyptian oppressors. 194 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:21,680 Then as the Israelites are following through the desert, 195 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:25,480 they are guided by a pillar of fire by night, which gives them 196 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:28,640 warmth in the desert cool of the evening, as well as it gives 197 00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:30,960 them light. And during the day they follow a 198 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:35,000 pillar of cloud which provides them shade from the desert sun 199 00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:37,440 and also gives them a guide to follow. 200 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:40,800 Then they get to a place where they are ready to drink, because 201 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:42,440 obviously if you're going through a desert, you're going 202 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:44,880 to need some water to drink. And they find a place that has 203 00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:49,480 water after three days of no water, and the water is bitter. 204 00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:53,440 It is undrinkable. God tells Moses how to solve the 205 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:57,280 issue and he turns the bitter water sweet and makes it 206 00:10:57,280 --> 00:10:59,440 drinkable by throwing a piece of wood in it. 207 00:10:59,920 --> 00:11:03,200 The people become hungry and God makes a promise to them that 208 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:06,920 every morning there will be mana on the ground for them to pick 209 00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:08,560 up. It will form like dew on the 210 00:11:08,560 --> 00:11:12,200 grass, and every night there will be quail birds meat for 211 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:14,760 them to eat. So every day God provided them 212 00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:17,800 with mana in the morning and quail in the evening to supply 213 00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:21,240 all of their food needs. Then they journey a little bit 214 00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:24,400 further into the desert and again they have run out of water 215 00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:28,000 and God tells them to speak to the rock and that the rock will 216 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:30,600 flow out water. And you think, oh that's really 217 00:11:30,600 --> 00:11:32,960 cool, water starts seeping out of a rock. 218 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:38,240 You would be wrong. The water supply of this large 219 00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:44,080 mass of people would have been about four to 6,000,000 gallons 220 00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:50,120 of water every day. So when water comes out of a 221 00:11:50,120 --> 00:11:53,920 rock, it is not trickling like out of your bathroom faucet. 222 00:11:54,920 --> 00:11:57,600 It is a geyser of water for you to drink. 223 00:11:57,960 --> 00:12:01,320 Let me put this in perspective. If you would sent your kid to 224 00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:04,720 crossing camp this year, this is the lake at crossing camp. 225 00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:05,920 We don't have a great name for it. 226 00:12:05,920 --> 00:12:08,680 We should name it one day. This is our lake. 227 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:12,760 If that lake was 8 feet deep, that would be the water 228 00:12:12,760 --> 00:12:16,960 requirements of the Israelites every single day. 229 00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:22,000 When water comes out of the rock, it is no small miracle. 230 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:25,960 They journey further along and they arrive in the desert of 231 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:28,880 Sinai. This would be modern day Egypt 232 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:33,640 or Saudi Arabia. And it is here that God invites 233 00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:39,240 Moses up onto the mountain, Mount Sinai to speak to Moses 234 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:42,920 and to give him the law. Now we're going to unpack what 235 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:45,880 happens after that. Over the next couple of weeks, 236 00:12:45,880 --> 00:12:47,360 we're going to dive into the law. 237 00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:49,640 And I know what you're thinking. Oh my goodness. 238 00:12:49,640 --> 00:12:51,680 We're going to start talking about the parts of the Bible 239 00:12:51,680 --> 00:12:53,600 that I ignore in my Bible reading plan. 240 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:56,000 And what I want to tell you is, is I think we're going to take 241 00:12:56,000 --> 00:12:58,920 one of the parts of the Bible that you think is the worst part 242 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:02,080 of the Bible and turn it into one of your favorite parts of 243 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:06,240 the Bible if you show up. So Moses goes up on the mountain 244 00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:10,080 and why he is on top of the mountain, things get really, 245 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:14,240 really bad down at the bottom. Think about how you felt after 246 00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:16,400 last week's message. You probably felt a little 247 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:18,480 encouraged. You probably felt a little 248 00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:20,640 energized. You felt a little bit excited. 249 00:13:20,880 --> 00:13:23,400 You felt a little joyful. And that's completely true. 250 00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:26,680 And it changes so stinking fast in the text. 251 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:31,440 You go from the high of highs to the low of lows. 252 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:35,520 And sometimes I've noticed that that's what happens to us, too. 253 00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:40,160 We have this incredible experience, followed by a very 254 00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:43,760 dark season. Moses is on top of the mountain. 255 00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:46,200 He is getting the words from God himself. 256 00:13:46,400 --> 00:13:49,320 He's getting the 10 commandments as well as some other ones. 257 00:13:49,560 --> 00:13:52,080 This is how it opens up Exodus chapter 20. 258 00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:58,280 And God spoke all these words. I am the Lord your God, who 259 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:03,840 brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 260 00:14:04,120 --> 00:14:10,040 You shall have no other gods before me. 261 00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:16,560 You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything 262 00:14:16,600 --> 00:14:22,560 in heaven above, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters below. 263 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:28,600 You shall not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord 264 00:14:28,600 --> 00:14:33,760 your God, am a jealous God. Well, I want you to remember 265 00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:38,200 that because at this exact moment, the mountain where Moses 266 00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:42,960 is hearing from God feels alive to all of the people that are 267 00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:45,600 down below. It's as if the mountain is 268 00:14:45,760 --> 00:14:47,680 breathing. This is a picture of what it 269 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:50,520 would have felt like. There was Thunder and there was 270 00:14:50,520 --> 00:14:53,640 lightning and there was a thick cloud of smoke inhabiting the 271 00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:56,480 top part of the mountain. And the people were amazed that 272 00:14:56,480 --> 00:14:58,920 something was happening. They didn't know what was 273 00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:00,560 happening. They couldn't see what was 274 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:02,760 happening. They just knew that Moses was up 275 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:06,160 on the mountain with God and they were in the valley below. 276 00:15:06,760 --> 00:15:10,280 And while Moses is getting this incredible word from God up top, 277 00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:12,960 something is stirring down below. 278 00:15:13,840 --> 00:15:16,200 Exodus chapter 32 verses one through 6. 279 00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:22,560 When the people saw that Moses was so long, everybody say so 280 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:28,080 long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around 281 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:32,320 Aaron and said, Come, make us gods who will go before us. 282 00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:38,320 As for this fellow Moses who has who brought us out of Egypt, we 283 00:15:38,320 --> 00:15:41,320 don't know what has happened to him. 284 00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:45,800 Aaron answered them. Take off the gold earrings that 285 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:50,480 your wives, your sons, and your daughters are wearing, and bring 286 00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:53,680 them to me. So all the people took off their 287 00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:55,520 earrings and brought them to Aaron. 288 00:15:56,400 --> 00:16:02,040 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the 289 00:16:02,040 --> 00:16:05,720 shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. 290 00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:12,840 Then they said, these are your gods, Israel, who brought you up 291 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:17,280 out of Egypt. When Aaron saw this, he built an 292 00:16:17,280 --> 00:16:21,800 altar in front of the calf and announced tomorrow there will be 293 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:25,520 a festival to the Lord. So the next day the people rose 294 00:16:25,520 --> 00:16:28,560 early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented 295 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:31,800 fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat 296 00:16:31,960 --> 00:16:34,960 and drink and got up to indulge in revelry. 297 00:16:34,960 --> 00:16:37,880 Revelry is a very Christian way of saying they partied 298 00:16:37,880 --> 00:16:41,640 incredibly hard. Can you see what's happening? 299 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:46,200 God is talking to Moses on the mountain, saying, I am the Lord 300 00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:48,400 your God who brought you out of Egypt. 301 00:16:48,520 --> 00:16:52,120 You shall have no other gods before me, of nothing in the 302 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:55,360 heavens above, the earth, or the waters below. 303 00:16:55,560 --> 00:16:59,400 And while that exact same thing is happening down in the valley, 304 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:02,080 the people are doing the exact opposite. 305 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:06,520 They are building an idol. They are giving credit to that 306 00:17:06,520 --> 00:17:08,920 idol for the work that God has done. 307 00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:14,640 And as I read these verses, there are at least 4 failures 308 00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:17,960 that jump off the page that make me want to look at the 309 00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:24,319 Israelites and go how could you? I know you're experiencing some 310 00:17:24,319 --> 00:17:27,640 hardship, I know you're experiencing some temptation. 311 00:17:27,839 --> 00:17:31,480 But how could you? Look what it says in First 312 00:17:31,480 --> 00:17:37,000 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13. No temptation has overtaken you 313 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:40,800 except what is common to mankind. 314 00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:43,240 I need to give you a mini devotional thought. 315 00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:45,840 There are going to be moments where you're going to be tempted 316 00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:49,280 to walk off the path that God has charted for you and you're 317 00:17:49,280 --> 00:17:52,200 going to be tempted to go. The temptation was just too 318 00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:55,840 much. But you need to know that there 319 00:17:55,840 --> 00:18:00,400 has never been a temptation that has come upon you that is beyond 320 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:03,040 your power through God to overcome. 321 00:18:04,320 --> 00:18:08,840 But the Israelites down in the valley do just that in at least 322 00:18:08,960 --> 00:18:12,440 four ways. The first area where they 323 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:18,600 struggle is impatience. They become frustrated at the 324 00:18:18,600 --> 00:18:22,480 timing of God. And I want to go, how could you? 325 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:27,240 You're like 40, you're 80 days into the deliverance. 326 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:30,520 You've experienced God's deliverance for 49 days by my 327 00:18:30,520 --> 00:18:34,480 calculation, and Moses has been up on the mountain for just 40 328 00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:40,120 days and you're already tired of waiting on God. 329 00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:45,680 They're already tired of waiting on him, waiting on Moses. 330 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:51,240 Or maybe they were just tired of being anxious because they 331 00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:54,040 didn't feel right having their leader absent for such a long 332 00:18:54,040 --> 00:18:56,280 time. I got to be honest here. 333 00:18:56,720 --> 00:18:59,720 If you were to talk to those closest to me on staff and to my 334 00:18:59,720 --> 00:19:02,920 friends and family and you were to list what are the top three 335 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:07,840 things that Clayton gets, you know, an F at it would be 336 00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:11,560 patience. Microwaves take too long to make 337 00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:14,440 my food. I'm like, do I really 2 minutes? 338 00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:18,160 What am I going to do when I get done eating at a restaurant? 339 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:21,360 I get up like, it's time to go, guys, what are we? 340 00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:23,320 What are we just going to waste our lives here? 341 00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:27,600 And so now my friends will order coffee and I'm like, can I just 342 00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:28,840 go? Can you give Jennifer a ride 343 00:19:28,840 --> 00:19:31,080 home? When I'm done, I'm done. 344 00:19:31,560 --> 00:19:35,080 I just, I'm just hard wired. When I pull into a restaurant 345 00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:37,840 that serves fast food and has a drive through, if the drive 346 00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:39,440 through line is too long, guess what I do? 347 00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:43,640 I go inside and I pick a car before I do like I'm going to 348 00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:46,480 beat that car out of this parking lot. 349 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:49,560 Yeah. You may remember a sermon I 350 00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:54,560 preached a long time ago at the beginning of the year called 351 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:58,280 There has to be a place. And the tagline in one of those 352 00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:00,840 sermons was there has to be a place that gives people. 353 00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:03,520 Time. That sermon had zero to do with 354 00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:06,360 you. That sermon had everything to do 355 00:20:06,560 --> 00:20:10,600 with me trying to live a life with the Holy Spirit because the 356 00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:14,280 fruit of the Holy Spirit produces patience. 357 00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:19,840 What do you do when God's timing is not your timing? 358 00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:25,680 What do you do? Question Is there an area in 359 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:29,680 your life right now where you are frustrated because you feel 360 00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:32,120 like you've been waiting on God for way too long? 361 00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:38,040 When you find yourself in that spot, I think there are at least 362 00:20:38,040 --> 00:20:41,680 two additional temptations when you are frustrated and you're 363 00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:45,560 trying to wait on God. The first one is to start 364 00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:48,760 believing that God doesn't exist. 365 00:20:51,040 --> 00:20:55,360 The second temptation is to believe that He exists, but to 366 00:20:55,360 --> 00:21:00,480 doubt who He is. He doesn't hear my prayers. 367 00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:05,160 He doesn't care. He's not going to come through. 368 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:12,760 The second temptation is to figure out a way to do it on 369 00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:15,200 your own power and your own strength. 370 00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:21,480 When you're tired of waiting on God, you decide to take matters 371 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:26,120 into your own hands. You start to believe that God's 372 00:21:26,120 --> 00:21:29,480 way isn't the best way, and that your way might actually be the 373 00:21:29,480 --> 00:21:32,280 best way to accomplish the thing that God wants you to do. 374 00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:35,640 The problem is, is you cannot accomplish godly things on human 375 00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:41,920 power. This is where we get tempted to 376 00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:44,600 go Well, the ends just justify the means. 377 00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:47,680 I'll accomplish the godly thing. I'll just do it on my own power 378 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:49,840 and my own strength. For those of you who've been 379 00:21:49,840 --> 00:21:53,160 around your Bible for a long, long time, I'm just going to 380 00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:55,280 give you a little bit of a reference to a story and you're 381 00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:57,640 going to go, Oh my goodness, that's exactly what happened. 382 00:21:58,120 --> 00:22:01,760 God promised Abraham that a great generation would flow out 383 00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:04,600 of him and his relationship with his wife, Sarah. 384 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:07,720 However, the promise took a lot longer to come about than they 385 00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:09,320 thought. And so they had a really good 386 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:11,240 idea. This is what their great idea 387 00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:13,520 was. Their great idea was it was 388 00:22:13,520 --> 00:22:16,920 actually the woman's idea, which women sometimes have horrible 389 00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:20,840 ideas. She said to her husband, hey, 390 00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:25,760 how about you take my servant and you just have a kid with her 391 00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:28,360 to fulfill the promise that God made for us. 392 00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:33,600 And Abraham goes, I think that sounds like a great idea. 393 00:22:35,120 --> 00:22:40,640 Sometimes guys have really bad ideas, and so he does it and he 394 00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:43,000 ends up having a kid with the woman he's not supposed to have 395 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:45,320 a kid with because he had sex with somebody he wasn't supposed 396 00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:47,360 to have sex with. And the idea was his wife and 397 00:22:47,360 --> 00:22:50,120 women have horrible ideas and he followed her idea, which is also 398 00:22:50,120 --> 00:22:52,160 not a good idea. And then I'm just going to cut 399 00:22:52,160 --> 00:22:53,920 you off. Surprise, guys, guess what? 400 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:56,120 The wife actually got upset that the husband did what she told 401 00:22:56,120 --> 00:22:58,280 him to do and didn't like what he'd actually done when he had 402 00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:04,360 done it. I just read my Bible, folks. 403 00:23:04,360 --> 00:23:09,360 I just read the Bible. You know what they were doing. 404 00:23:10,200 --> 00:23:12,680 They were trying to accomplish the will of God in their own 405 00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:15,240 power and their own strength with their own ideas because 406 00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:18,160 they got frustrated waiting on God. 407 00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:22,720 Where is an area in your life right now where you are 408 00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:30,040 frustrated in the waiting? You're tempted to do it your own 409 00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:33,600 way. The second thing that I believe 410 00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:39,600 the Israelites did is they had a desire to go back, then went 411 00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:42,040 back to their old way of thinking, their old way of 412 00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:44,360 operating. For 400 years they've been in 413 00:23:44,360 --> 00:23:46,400 captivity in Egypt. And guess what? 414 00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:49,760 The Egyptian, one of the gods the Egyptians worshipped, they 415 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:53,040 worshipped an image that they had fashioned out of themselves 416 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:54,520 and you're going, how could you do it? 417 00:23:55,680 --> 00:23:59,800 For the Egyptians, they worshipped a cow God named 418 00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:07,000 Hathor was a goddess of love. The image a calf God has just 419 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:10,960 taken them out of the Egypt and they go back to worshipping the 420 00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:13,920 gods that they were surrounded by in captivity. 421 00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:17,280 And if those gods were so good to you, how come you were in so 422 00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:20,400 much captivity? But as soon as things don't 423 00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:26,040 start going the right way, they go back to Egypt. 424 00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:29,120 This is the fatal flaw of the Egyptians. 425 00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:33,280 They were out of Egypt, but Egypt wasn't out of them. 426 00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:40,560 How many times have you and I done the exact same thing for 427 00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:42,880 me? Too many to count. 428 00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:47,120 When things don't go our way, we want to go back. 429 00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:52,720 We have officially left the things that were hurting us, 430 00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:55,640 that were breaking us down, that were causing us pain, that were 431 00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:58,600 keeping us from our purpose, the things that were keeping us from 432 00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:00,640 Our Calling. And then the moment things don't 433 00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:03,880 go the way we want them to go, we go back to the very things 434 00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:06,120 that were hurting us. The very things that were 435 00:25:06,120 --> 00:25:09,520 keeping us in isolation, the very things that were pulling us 436 00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:12,920 down, the very things that were robbing us of who God created us 437 00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:16,560 to be. And we walk away from the 438 00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:20,720 goodness of God. The moment following God gets 439 00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:25,240 hard three different times at this point in the story, the 440 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:28,360 Egyptians are the Israelites have said, why did we come all 441 00:25:28,360 --> 00:25:31,440 the way out here? It would be better for us to go 442 00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:35,360 back. And how many times in your walk 443 00:25:35,360 --> 00:25:40,000 with Christ have you left the old way, started walking in the 444 00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:42,120 new life that he has provided for you? 445 00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:44,960 And deep down inside, when things start to get tough, you 446 00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:49,640 want to walk away completely. We've left the emotions and the 447 00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:53,080 attitudes and the and the activities that were keeping us 448 00:25:53,080 --> 00:25:56,280 in bondage. And we walk away from the 449 00:25:56,560 --> 00:26:00,520 goodness of life with Christ. And the moment there's 450 00:26:00,520 --> 00:26:04,760 adversity, we just want to go back. 451 00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:10,800 The third thing I see happening there is Aaron gives in. 452 00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:15,680 And Aaron is supposed to be the leader of these people. 453 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:19,720 And I want to scream. And Aaron, how could you? 454 00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:25,960 You've been the mouthpiece of God. 455 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:31,200 Miracles have been performed by your hands, and the moment the 456 00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:35,400 people around you turn their affections away from God, you 457 00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:39,720 help them commit the sin. You were supposed to call them 458 00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:43,720 back to God, but you actually participate in their rebellion. 459 00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:47,120 Where Aaron? Where is your holy boldness? 460 00:26:47,360 --> 00:26:51,360 Where Aaron is your courage, your commitment, your strength? 461 00:26:51,920 --> 00:27:00,040 Where is it? And yet at the same time, how 462 00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:03,400 many times have we done the same thing? 463 00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:08,880 How many times have we known somebody, seen somebody do the 464 00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:14,760 exact same thing? Too many times. 465 00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:18,280 You and I have heard stories of people leaving the church, 466 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:21,560 giving in to the pressure of Satan, and just walking away 467 00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:23,680 from the bride of Christ completely. 468 00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:27,600 And they leave because they come up with their reason. 469 00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:31,400 Things just aren't going the way they're supposed to go. 470 00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:32,640 And other people join them in it. 471 00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:35,640 Sometimes they'll say, hey, I'm not, I'm not going to go back. 472 00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:37,880 Because, you know, all the hypocrites are at church. 473 00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:40,760 And I mean, I've heard that, you know, 10,000 times. 474 00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:42,680 And deep down inside, we want to tell them that's not true. 475 00:27:42,680 --> 00:27:43,760 There's not hypocrites of the church. 476 00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:46,040 But deep down inside, we know what's really true, which is 477 00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:48,560 we're all a bunch of hypocrites. And so how do we tell them that 478 00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:50,080 they're right when they're actually wrong? 479 00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:53,720 I'll tell you, you've been here at church before you. 480 00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:55,280 You know your level of hypocrisy. 481 00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:57,800 You're super fired up for Jesus on a Thursday or on a Sunday, 482 00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:00,480 and then you're an absolute troll in the office on Monday 483 00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:03,120 and you're a Jack wagon to your family on a Tuesday. 484 00:28:03,120 --> 00:28:05,240 And so when they say, you know, I'm not going back to the church 485 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:07,000 because the hypocrites, you're like, yeah, you're actually 486 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:10,080 pretty much thinking right on. So let me just give you some 487 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:11,960 coaching if you want some coaching. 488 00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:16,120 If somebody ever brings up the hypocrite, talk to you here. 489 00:28:16,120 --> 00:28:17,680 You could channel your inner Clayton. 490 00:28:18,360 --> 00:28:20,560 Here is what I would say to somebody who says I'm not going 491 00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:22,040 to church because of all the hypocrites. 492 00:28:23,360 --> 00:28:26,280 I would say, just so you know, we don't worship us at our 493 00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:31,440 church. We worship Jesus and we know 494 00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:34,400 we're not perfect. We just know that he is and we 495 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:36,800 know that we fail and he never has. 496 00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:39,520 And so if you were thinking that when you came to this church, 497 00:28:39,520 --> 00:28:42,360 you were supposed to worship us, that was never the intention. 498 00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:45,600 We were pointing you to him who's perfect in absolutely 499 00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:47,840 every single way. And then I'll probably gently, 500 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:51,440 maybe double down, I would say, so where do you get gas? 501 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:53,600 They'd be like, what do you mean? 502 00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:57,680 You know what do you mean? Well, I just want you to know 503 00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:01,200 that when I go to fill my car up with gas, I don't avoid a gas 504 00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:03,880 station because there's hypocrites getting gas. 505 00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:07,320 I go there for the same reason everybody else does. 506 00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:11,520 I need gas. I don't, hey, I can't shop at 507 00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:14,480 that grocery store. There's fat people in there 508 00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:17,720 eating in the unhealthy aisles. I don't do that. 509 00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:21,520 How many of you have ever got a prescription from a fat Doctor 510 00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:24,320 Who says you need to lose weight? 511 00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:29,240 I don't sit there and go, hey, fatty, no, you know what I say? 512 00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:34,200 You're probably stinking, right? So when I'm in a grocery store, 513 00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:36,880 I don't go, hey, there's no there's a bunch of hypocrites 514 00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:38,720 here. I can't get my food here. 515 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:40,640 I'm there for the same reason they're there. 516 00:29:40,760 --> 00:29:43,720 I'm hungry and I need food. You know what? 517 00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:46,680 When I'm sick, I don't say I'm not going to the hospital 518 00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:49,040 because there's a bunch of sick people there. 519 00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:52,200 I go there because there's other sick people there. 520 00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:54,760 And you know why the other sick people are there? 521 00:29:55,480 --> 00:29:57,320 Because they want to get better too. 522 00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:01,400 So let me tell you something. I don't avoid church because the 523 00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:04,600 people there are jacked up. I go to church for the same 524 00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:07,880 reason everybody else goes to church, because I need saved. 525 00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:12,600 I need forgiven, I need healed, I need redeemed, I need 526 00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:15,240 repurposed. I need to be connected to him. 527 00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:19,280 If I'm waiting for you to be a bunch of perfect people before I 528 00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:22,920 can go to church, that's crazy. And no other area of your life 529 00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:25,920 do you operate like that. But Satan will sow a seed of 530 00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:28,680 stupid into somebody's heart, and they'll just live there 531 00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:34,200 until somebody squashes it. So I squashed it. 4th mistake 532 00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:35,600 that they make. OK, that's great. 533 00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:39,040 Thank God bless you. All right, the fourth thing they 534 00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:43,520 do is they misuse, and this one is the most devastating in my 535 00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:48,360 opinion, of all. They take the jewelry out of 536 00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:51,680 their ears and they make an idol out of it. 537 00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:54,680 And I want to scream at them, how could you? 538 00:30:56,120 --> 00:30:58,480 Do you know how you got those earrings? 539 00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:03,280 You were in bondage for 400 years. 540 00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:07,960 You had no inheritance, no generational wealth, you have no 541 00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:10,520 bank account, you had no possessions. 542 00:31:11,080 --> 00:31:16,720 But God made the Egyptians favorable to you, and they gave 543 00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:19,800 you what they had. Look what it says in Exodus 544 00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:23,040 chapter 12. The Lord had made the Egyptians 545 00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:26,520 favorably disposed towards the people, and they gave them what 546 00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:29,920 they asked for. So they plundered the Egyptians, 547 00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:35,600 the Israelites, after 400 years of nothing, plunder a wealthy 548 00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:43,720 country, and they take the very blessing that God gave them, and 549 00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:45,600 they use it to rebel against him. 550 00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:50,760 And you want to scream at the text, How could you? 551 00:31:52,560 --> 00:31:58,600 And before I do, I think I've done the very same thing. 552 00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:03,160 God did not just redeem me out of my sin. 553 00:32:04,320 --> 00:32:08,840 As He was doing so, He placed inside of me His Holy Spirit 554 00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:12,720 which gives me gifts, talents and abilities. 555 00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:17,200 I don't just get saved, He plunders heaven on my behalf and 556 00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:20,760 instills in me a power and a gift and an ability that I do 557 00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:23,400 not deserve. And yet I can easily take the 558 00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:26,800 very things that He has blessed me with and use it to just bless 559 00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:29,320 myself and not the people around me. 560 00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:33,200 What does it look like when you take those blessings and you use 561 00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:36,360 the blessings against them? Our our gift of leadership is 562 00:32:36,360 --> 00:32:38,240 used for our own glory instead of His. 563 00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:41,720 Our our wealth is used to expand our Kingdom instead of His. 564 00:32:41,720 --> 00:32:44,520 Our connections are used to expand our business instead of 565 00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:47,160 being in the business of pointing people to Jesus. 566 00:32:47,160 --> 00:32:51,000 We do our good works to be seen by outsiders instead of to love 567 00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:56,960 one another. Every time I read about the 568 00:32:56,960 --> 00:32:59,640 Israelites, I just want to scream. 569 00:32:59,800 --> 00:33:04,480 How could you? After all that you've seen, 570 00:33:04,640 --> 00:33:08,480 after all that you've experienced, how could you? 571 00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:11,840 How could you? After you saw God move in a 572 00:33:11,840 --> 00:33:14,400 mighty way in the 10 plagues? How could you? 573 00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:17,320 How could you after you plundered the Egyptians? 574 00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:19,800 How could you? How could you after you crossed 575 00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:23,120 the Red Sea on dry ground with a wall of water on your right and 576 00:33:23,120 --> 00:33:25,400 a wall of water on your left? How could you? 577 00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:29,000 How on the earth could you possibly rebel against God when 578 00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:32,200 you are walking in a cloud of fire but or a pillar of cloud by 579 00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:34,160 day and a pillar of fire by night? 580 00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:36,560 How could you? How could you when there is 581 00:33:36,560 --> 00:33:39,080 manna in the morning and there is quail in the evening? 582 00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:41,080 How could you? How could you when you are 583 00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:44,200 drinking from water that came out of a rock 4,000,000 gallons 584 00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:45,400 a day? How well could you? 585 00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:50,960 But Paul writes in Galatians chapter 5 verse 7, you are 586 00:33:50,960 --> 00:33:55,360 running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you 587 00:33:55,360 --> 00:33:59,840 from obeying the truth? And before I get too mad at the 588 00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:04,120 Israelites, I end up looking at myself in the mirror and going, 589 00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:11,920 How could you? Because you and I, we probably 590 00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:15,840 do the same thing over and over and over again. 591 00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:19,639 One of my weird quirks is when I go into people's houses, if they 592 00:34:19,639 --> 00:34:24,199 have, you know, what I call stupid art on the wall, I read 593 00:34:24,199 --> 00:34:26,400 it out loud as if I'm just saying it randomly. 594 00:34:27,280 --> 00:34:28,800 So like, I'll be in someone's kitchen. 595 00:34:30,280 --> 00:34:33,679 Like, people really don't know how much you care or care how 596 00:34:33,679 --> 00:34:35,480 much you know until they know how much you care. 597 00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:41,120 And my wife will just start looking around for the sign. 598 00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:46,040 You know, we came into your house as friends, but we're 599 00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:49,639 leaving his family. So it's just, I got this thing. 600 00:34:49,639 --> 00:34:51,400 If I go to your house, I'm going to find something stupid that 601 00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:53,120 you put on a wall. And I'm going to, I'm going to 602 00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:58,120 say it like it's mine. So I was at a friend's house and 603 00:34:58,120 --> 00:35:02,240 there was a sign on the wall. This what the sign reads. 604 00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:07,040 I still remember praying for all the things I have now. 605 00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:20,680 Can't you? You ever just looked back and 606 00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:23,800 seen how he has actually been faithful at every turn? 607 00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:29,600 I still remember praying for all the things I have now. 608 00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:33,760 Oh, I don't have a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of 609 00:35:33,760 --> 00:35:39,440 fire by night, but I have a long list of answered prayers. 610 00:35:42,600 --> 00:35:44,080 He's been faithful at every turn. 611 00:35:47,640 --> 00:35:51,400 He has never been on my timeline, but he has always been 612 00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:54,440 on time. In fact, even when he was late, 613 00:35:54,440 --> 00:35:58,840 he was still on time. He's always delivered. 614 00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:07,400 He's always supplied. He has always come through and I 615 00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:10,360 want to look at all of my failures and my missteps along 616 00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:12,800 the way. There is not a single thing that 617 00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:15,120 he has not redeemed and repurposed. 618 00:36:17,040 --> 00:36:20,600 And I want to look at myself in the mirror and go, how could 619 00:36:20,600 --> 00:36:24,840 you? Crossing family in this life, 620 00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:29,160 you will experience times of waiting, times of hardship, 621 00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:33,040 times of uncertainty. And the very last thing that you 622 00:36:33,360 --> 00:36:39,560 want to do is walk away from the one who will get you through. 623 00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:49,560 And you might be thinking that I preached this sermon and the 624 00:36:49,560 --> 00:36:53,560 reason I titled it how could you is because I was thinking that 625 00:36:53,560 --> 00:37:01,240 you and me were so bad. Nope, I titled it How could you? 626 00:37:03,560 --> 00:37:05,600 Because I was thinking about Jesus. 627 00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:10,840 Because if I could ask him any question, I would ask him. 628 00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:18,120 How could you, in all of your perfectness, take on all of my 629 00:37:18,120 --> 00:37:22,040 sin? How could you, knowing that I 630 00:37:22,040 --> 00:37:25,000 would fail you over and over again? 631 00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:30,720 How could you make your mercies new to me every single morning? 632 00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:34,400 How could you, knowing that I would fail you, still give me 633 00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:37,440 your Holy Spirit? How, knowing that I was going to 634 00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:40,800 fail you, would you still be there for me at every turn? 635 00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:44,040 I'm not looking at you and I'm not looking at me going How 636 00:37:44,040 --> 00:37:47,360 could you? I'm looking at Him and going, 637 00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:52,000 How could you be so good to me knowing I've been so bad? 638 00:37:52,600 --> 00:37:53,840 We're moving to a time of decision. 639 00:37:59,290 --> 00:38:02,610 If you are here today and you don't have a relationship with 640 00:38:02,650 --> 00:38:05,570 Jesus Christ, I'm just going to be edgy with you for a second. 641 00:38:06,490 --> 00:38:11,130 You are either following Jesus or you are following Satan. 642 00:38:11,130 --> 00:38:15,050 There is no middle ground. Your life is either being 643 00:38:15,050 --> 00:38:19,690 directed by God or your life is being directed by the enemy. 644 00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:28,200 You either belong to God or you belong to Satan, and when you 645 00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:31,680 die, you will go to the one that you belong to. 646 00:38:32,720 --> 00:38:38,880 There is no middle ground. And if you were here today and 647 00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:42,160 you've never started an intimate personal relationship with Jesus 648 00:38:42,160 --> 00:38:46,840 Christ, don't put it off. Sometimes when I'm having 649 00:38:46,840 --> 00:38:49,400 conversations with people who'll go, I want to say yes to Jesus. 650 00:38:49,400 --> 00:38:50,680 I just know I'm going to screw up. 651 00:38:50,680 --> 00:38:53,120 I want you to know God will not be surprised. 652 00:38:54,920 --> 00:39:03,030 He's not going to like what? He knew you were going to sin. 653 00:39:03,030 --> 00:39:04,670 He knew the sin you were going to commit. 654 00:39:04,830 --> 00:39:07,470 He already decided in advance that He was going to put the 655 00:39:07,470 --> 00:39:10,950 penalty of that sin on His Son before you ever committed that 656 00:39:10,950 --> 00:39:13,390 sin. He is not surprised by that sin. 657 00:39:13,510 --> 00:39:16,150 He sent His Son to save you from your sin. 658 00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:19,400 And if you are waiting for you to be perfect to find a 659 00:39:19,400 --> 00:39:21,960 relationship with him, if you're perfect, you don't need a 660 00:39:21,960 --> 00:39:24,520 relationship with him. And I've said this 1000 times, 661 00:39:24,520 --> 00:39:26,760 if you could fix you, he wouldn't have sent his son. 662 00:39:27,040 --> 00:39:29,000 And if you're here today going, I know I'm going to fail in the 663 00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:30,560 future, I want you to know you're right. 664 00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:33,000 But you can get this thing right and you can get the most 665 00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:35,080 important thing right. And the most important thing 666 00:39:35,080 --> 00:39:39,000 that you can do is return you to Him and start an intimate 667 00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:41,280 personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 668 00:39:42,080 --> 00:39:44,720 To those of you who are here and you've never started that, I'm 669 00:39:44,720 --> 00:39:47,520 going to encourage you in just a few moments to walk right over 670 00:39:47,520 --> 00:39:50,880 there underneath that screen next to another baptistry. 671 00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:52,640 If you're watching online, there's going to be somebody 672 00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:55,600 who's going to pop something up in the chat and start asking the 673 00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:57,840 questions to start that relationship today. 674 00:39:59,160 --> 00:40:01,520 If you're here today and you already have a relationship with 675 00:40:01,520 --> 00:40:05,400 Jesus Christ, maybe we should spend just a little bit of time 676 00:40:06,120 --> 00:40:09,720 owning the areas in our life where we have not been obedient. 677 00:40:10,840 --> 00:40:12,560 Maybe there's an area where you've been, you've given, 678 00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:14,880 you've given up on praying because you're tired of waiting 679 00:40:15,080 --> 00:40:16,720 and you need to pray that prayer again. 680 00:40:18,040 --> 00:40:20,080 Maybe there's an area of your life where you know you've been 681 00:40:20,080 --> 00:40:23,040 misusing the blessings of God and you're going, it's time for 682 00:40:23,040 --> 00:40:25,680 me to use what you've given me to advance your Kingdom. 683 00:40:28,320 --> 00:40:32,720 Maybe you need to just get down on your knees and just thank God 684 00:40:33,560 --> 00:40:36,600 for all the times He has come through for you. 685 00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:41,120 Maybe you just need to spend some time asking him how could 686 00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:44,280 you be so good to me? Would you stand with me? 687 00:40:45,640 --> 00:40:47,280 God, I'm asking you to do a work. 688 00:40:48,880 --> 00:40:52,720 A work that can't be attributed to the sermon, that can't be 689 00:40:52,720 --> 00:40:56,040 attributed to this church, that can't be attributed to the 690 00:40:56,040 --> 00:41:02,080 worship I'm asking you to do. A work that could only be 691 00:41:02,080 --> 00:41:09,040 attributed to your spirit moving in US, convicting us, changing 692 00:41:09,040 --> 00:41:13,400 us, challenging us into your image and your name. 693 00:41:13,400 --> 00:41:14,840 I pray. Amen.